85 reviews liked by mikhomak


Arguably the best Killzone game solely for its brevity and touch controls replacing what would otherwise be motion gimmicks in the PS3 titles. The performance is shaky (to put it nicely) but for the screen size and how ambitiously designed Mercenary is, I can look over hitches that would otherwise cripple its major console counterpart.

A total shame this formula couldn't be refined in later titles or some sort of port, as this is easily the best FPS the Vita ever had to offer. Not like there was much competition, though, seeing how the handheld ultimately failed in the mainstream market. It's additionally tragic that the multiplayer servers are long-gone now, yet I'm glad I was able to at least put in a few hours until services were shut down.

At first I played it compulsively; it has an attractive art style and addictive loop. The gameplay got stale after a while, and the writing didn’t help.

As overrated as the anime. The protagonist is unlikeable and all of the supporting characters are annoying, one-note anime tropes. It's tonally inconsistent and has poor pacing. The humor is unfunny and a lot of it is just sexual harassment. The strong point is the sci-fi storytelling, but even that feels pretty underbaked.

They should add support for resolutions higher than 1080p and integrate the third-party fixes if they're going to charge this much. Spike Chunsoft's pricing is absurd.

Ill prefix this is a review of the campaign only as I haven't played any multiplayer.

All in all its a fun FPS campaign to fill up a few hours. Compared to Call of Duty campaigns, Battlefield 3 leans far more into realism with less massive set pieces and more realistic military operations. On the whole all the missions were fun, each one managed to feel different, the fighter jet and tank missions were fun and I am glad they didn't over do them.

In terms of characters none are very special, another thing that differs massively from COD, none of these characters are really that interesting or memorable. I like the cutscenes where the protagonist is being interrogated, it gives off big Black Ops 1 vibes.

Visually its aged alright its looks very grainy but the mission landscapes look really good. Score was alright, never really noticed it much during the campaign. I have heard amazing things about this games multiplayer back in the day and I wise I played at its peak. Overall its a fun experience, nothing I would ever go back to but still a good experience.

This review contains very minor story spoilers

Prefix the same thing I did on my MGS 1 & 2 review. I played this through the new master collection on PS5 however I want to talk about each game individually so ill review each one as I complete them and then ill talk about the master collection later.

This time last month I had never touched a metal gear game but always had intentions of getting into it one day, fast forward to today and MGS3 has became one of my favourite games of all time. While the first two are extremely good games, Snake Eater blows them both out the water, with a beautiful story, major changes in the franchises gameplay and one hell of a good score. There is a reason that this is considered one of the best games of all time and it has quickly shot into my top 15.

Starting off with the Story, it is without a doubt the best in the series. It has fantastic characters which are all given enough time to develop across the game, a really interesting and tense story which has enough twists and subversions to keep you guessing throughout. Naked Snake is a great protagonist and despite looking and sounding identical, is different enough from Solid Snake to hammer in that you are playing as a different character. The side characters are at their best here. Eva is a really good character and the chemistry between her and Snake is a highlight. Ocelot constantly appearing to try and beat Snake is funny and actually serves as a good origin for his character. Volgin is a really imposing main villain and it was nice to have a main antagonist which isn't just another Snake clone. The codec characters are cool and thankfully dont overstay their welcome unlike in MGS2. Finally though, The Boss, one of the best characters in the series and through a small amount of screen time manages to have such a meaningful arc and the twist makes for a beautiful ending. "She was a true Patriot"

The gameplay is changed massively from the first two games. Where they featured a fixed camera and had all your items laid out for you, Snake Eater takes a more survival approach and ditches it for a free camera and makes you pick and choose with what you have equipped. It also has a camouflage feature where you can select between a bunch of different outfits and face paints to better disguise yourself while in the jungle. Also added is a focus on gathering food, Snake has to eat periodically to regain his stamina, also to add to immersion Snake has to treat his wounds using the cure area. Depending on the injury Snake can use a variety of supplies to treat them otherwise his health will gradually decrease. Combat plays similarly to MGS2 with the first person aiming but makes a lot more use of CQC.

Another area where Snake Eater excels is the boss fights. Probably the best in the series only possibly rivalled with the first game. The Cobras are this games "Sons of Liberty" and are 100x better and more enjoyable. Each boss being themed around an emotion they take into battle is a really cool idea. Each boss feels very different and while they aren't as integral to the narrative as the FOXHOUND guys in MGS1 they are still important to the story. The End and The Fury were my two favourites, Also I really liked The Sorrow's section I thought it added a great creepy atomsphere. The Volgin boss fight was also pretty fun and The Boss is a brilliant fight as you feel more outmatched by her than you do Volgin who is double the size.

Visually the game looks stunning for its time. The jungle aesthetic is a bit samey due to the lack of colour beside green but the sections where you are out of the jungle make up for that. Character designs are great and probably the best in the series. The score is one of my favourites of all time, the main theme is fantastic and the music throughout is a joy to listen to.

Technical wise I found that the characters facial animations would glitch a lot with there mouths never matching up to what they are saying and sometimes not even opening at all. Very minor nit pick which is probably just a sign of the times.

I genuinely have little to no complaints about this game as my biggest complaint was fixed. Snake Eater doesn't feature any 12 minute long exposition filled codec segments or any needlessly long cutscenes where nothing of interest happens. Instead it has beautifully crafted cutscenes that help advance the narrative instead of playing the whole game like a movie. Also the motion capture for the fight choreography is really good for its time and holds up with stuff released today.

Metal Gear Solid 3 : Snake Eater is rightfully considered one of the greatest games of all time. Kojima created an amazing story that feels like an amazing movie and an equally amazing game. Without a doubt worth a play, I'm annoyed it took me so long to get into this franchise, unfortunately from what I can gather it doesn't go well from here but I will probably stick with it once the next volume of the master collection comes out. Up there with my favourite games of all time.


Great Military simulator. The story is pretty interesting and the way the combat works in really fun. Having to survey an area and pick off guards before sneaking in or just running in guns blazing. The game has enough content to keep you busy for a long while. I played this with a friend and we had a blast going through it.

Nostalgic as hell. Since bedrock edition sucks this is the definitive console Minecraft. So many memories playing this.

Doesnt have the same atmosphere and interesting story as wildlands but ups it in gameplay in almost every way. The mud covering and new sets of gadgets works really well with the setting. While the story is good its not as interesting as wildlands. I played this solo and I definitely think I would of enjoyed it more Co-op. If your a fan of the franchise its definitely worth a play

This review will contain spoilers

Arkham DLC ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Flameyboy928/list/batman-arkham-dlc-ranked-/

The final entry in the best superhero gaming franchise of all time and probably the most divisive one at that. I think that Arkham Knight features some of the best and the worst that this franchise has to offer. That being said I think that this is still a fantastic end to this franchise.

To start off with the story, I think that this is on the weaker side compared to the other games, the story feels very disconnected from itself and due to the constant breaks throughout it, It can stall quite a bit. To broaden it out, I think the game starts great, dips drastically in the middle, picks up with the Harley segment at the movie studio, dips again for a bit but come back to end strongly. There is a lot I like about the story, first off I love Scarecrow as the main villain. One of my favourite Batman villains so im glad to see him at the helm. So much better than the Asylum version. Batman's battle against the Joker's virus is a good B plot which ties in well with the end of the game. I really like what they do with Ivy's character turning her into a bit of an anti-hero at the end. I like the inclusion and more focus on the bat family, particularly Oracle and Nightwing. Now onto a couple issues I have. I think the Arkham Knight could of been done a lot better, ill talk more specifically about this in a minute but I think that him popping up every now and then only to leave as soon as batman starts to fight back gets very repetitive after the 3rd time. I think that the detonation of the cloud of fear gas comes completely out of the blue and 100% could of been handled better and given a bit of tension. I also think that the story's pace grinds to a halt during the middle section specifically the airship part. Probably 3rd ranked in terms of story as I think it has a better overall narrative than Asylum.

Now looking at the characters, once again I have to mention the amazing work done by the two goats, Kevin Conroy (RIP) and Mark Hamill. They put so much life into these two characters and it is devastating that we will never see the two of them on screen again. I will also commend John Noble for his terrifying performance as Scarecrow, also Jonathan Banks gives the best Jim Gordon performance in the series. Great work as always by the series mainstays like Nolan North as Penguin, Tara Strong as Harley, Tasia Valenza as Ivy and Troy Baker as Two-Face and the Arkham Knight. Speaking of the Arkham Knight, I think it is a safe bet to say that the vast majority who played this game guessed the twist a mile off. Jason Todd being the Arkham Knight is a really interesting idea but it was just done so poorly. The constant hints being fed while constantly feeding into the mystery is really counter intuitive. Im sure most people guessed it from the first time Jason Todd is mentioned as he hasnt been brought up at all during the whole series. I think it would of been better if Batman knowingly had to fight Jason and having to grapple with that. I think that would of been way better than the constant "Not yet Dark Knight" every time he was on screen. Side characters are pretty good, most villains are kept to side quests but we do get proper uses of the bat family which is great. Nightwing, Robin, Alfred and Oracle are prominent throughout the story which is great to have. To quickly touch on the designs. Knight has some of my favourites. What i have noticed is that Knight makes a lot of the characters look messy or unkempt, big examples are Penguin, Riddler and Firefly all looking very sweaty and very dressed down considering what they normally look like. I absolutely love Scarecrows design, with the mangled face and the noose around his neck. I really like that they didnt ignore the fact he got deathrolled by killer croc in Asylum, I actually noticed this time through that he has a leg brace which is a cool detail. Other designs like Harley, Azrael, Two-face and Ivy are nice upgrades from their city counterparts.

Moving onto the gameplay. Arkham Knight perfects everything that the other games had been building towards. The free flow system peaked here, it is so fluid and this game adds lots of little features like the fear multi takedown, environmental takedowns and duel takedowns when fighting with a partner. A lot of enemy variety with the Arkham Knight's militia, now you have medics, drone operators, brutes with knives, sword wielding guys and now thugs will randomly charge you as well. The traversal is perfect also, flying around the city is so quick it is awesome. However there is of course that other means of traversal...

The batmobile in this game was controversial to say the least. Now I fully used to be in the "They overused the batmobile" camp, in fact it I said it in my old review of this game. I still do agree to an extent but during the main story I didnt find much of an issue outside a couple of things, side content however is a different debate, i will touch on that later. My main complaints with the batmobile are that it seems like whenever rocksteady didnt know what to put in an area, they would throw a drone fighting segment in, so there are some parts of the story that really dont seem like they need it. Also I hate the cobra tank battles, vehicle stealth sections should not exits, period. Also the cloud burst battle sucks and leads into my next point.

WHY DOES THIS GAME HAVE NO BOSS BATTLES! Every other game in the series is praised on its boss battles, but in Arkham Knight you are gonna get one of two things, a tank battle or a room full of goons that you have to clear before you can deal damage to the boss. This is my biggest complaint about this game, it truly shocks me why they abandoned literally the best part of all the other games.

Now this is gonna take a bit because this is my favourite part of Arkham Knight. The side content. This game has sensational side content, almost every major villain from the series is featured in Knight's side content. I love gradually filling up the GCPD with the villains and I also like how the game pushes you onto the side content. So I am briefly going to go over most side quests and ill group a few together to save time.

First off the militia side quests are boring, all 4 of them. Dont get me started on the fucking deathstroke fight which is literally the fucking Arkham Knight cloudburst battle again expect without the fear toxin. A bastardisation of the Origins fight. These quests really add to the overused batmobile argument as two of them require it.

The Riddler side quest also sucks, Ive done this twice to 240% the game and I will never do it again. The trophies are one thing but the shit challenges are boring and i will never do these every again.

The two small sidequests involving Hush and Deacon Blackfire are decent but could of been longer. Deacon Blackfire i think could of been replaced with a character like Bane, Clayface, Black Mask or even a popular character we hadn't seen yet like Ventriloquist and Scarface. Hush one is a bit of a let down but I have no clue what else they could of done.

Two-Face and Penguin both have decent side quests, I like the Two-face one more because of the way it switches up the normal predator sections by giving you the chance to go loud. Penguins is alright, having Nightwing in it is cool.

The Firefly quest is a chase segment but it is pretty cool, Nothing on the origins segment but still alright. Finding the fire fighters is just a gauntlet of enemies so nothing special there.

Now for my Top 3 favourites. The Azrael quest is fun, getting to play as him is nice and the choice at the end is a cool way to end it off. The man bat quest is awesome, with that iconic jumpscare and examining the lab, an unusually sad side quest. Then the Professor Pyg quest which is my favourite, its a better version of the Hush quest from city. The creepy Opera music, examining the bodies and that final fight is pretty fun.

Quickly looking at the visuals. This game looks fantastic. Hard to believe that is nearly 10 years old. I would really like to see a ps5 upgrade, just to see this in 60 fps would be brilliant. Also the score is great, probably the weakest of the series but by no means bad.

Arkham Knight is still pretty divisive, but to me it is a fantastic book end to one of the best franchises of all time. Also Arkham Knight has 7 DLC's to look at so prepare for the bombardment of those reviews. 100% recommend this game and this series, Absolutely fantastic.

Link to my Arkham Knight review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Flameyboy928/review/1419456/

I think this is the best DLC in the franchise. It adds 4 of the biggest villains omitted from Arkham Knight's main game. It also gives 4 really solid side quests 3 of which are set in completely new areas so they aren't all just crammed into already existing buildings. Ill talk about each quest briefly in order from my least favourite to favourite.

4. Mad Hatter - I think this is the weakest of the quests as it is very repetitive and doesn't have that good of a pay off. Basic premise is Mad Hatter has kidnapped 3 cops and hid them in bomb rigged cop cars. Batman has to diffuse the bombs to save them. Problem with this is i found the controls to be really janky and diffusing the bombs especially the harder ones became quite difficult. But the final wonderland fight is pretty cool but has nothing on the Origins or City one.

3. Mr Freeze - My favourite character out of these 4 but the side quest itself is nothing special. A lot of Militia stuff for some reason, adds an unnecessary tank fight but it has a fantastic ending with Mr Freeze and Nora sailing off together after finally being able to free her from the cryogen.

2. Ras Al Ghul - My least favourite character of the group but damn this side quest is good. Premise is that the League of Assassins are in a civil war, where half want Ras dead and the other dont. It introduces Nyssa Al Ghul as the leader of the rebel faction. The choice at the end is a tough one where you choose to either let Ras die or revive him, its a tough one on Batman's moral code. Love the hidden base being under the hospital thats really cool.

1. Killer Croc - Probably my 2nd favourite side quest in Knight. I love traversing through the destroyed Prison and seeing all the carnage. Croc's design is monstrous where he has no resemblance of a man anymore. It has a pretty cool twist of Croc being experimented on by the warden and thats why he is attacking them.

I love this DLC as it adds 4 fun side missions and a whole new wing to the GCPD building which is great. It is pretty weird that a DLC is required to get the max completion of the game but regardless I would 100% recommend to anyone who hasn't played.